Sheriff pay lags behind other areas

BONNERS FERRY — Retaining sheriff deputies is a struggle for Boundary County, with many deputies moving to larger cities with better pay.

Many deputies move to Bonner County, Lincoln County and the Idaho State Police.

“If we could be more competitive with neighboring counties,” said Chief Deputy Richard Stephens. “We could keep experienced, trained deputies here.”

Since 2004, the Sheriff’s Office has seen a turnover of 34 employees in detention, dispatch and patrol.

Providing training incentives is one of the ideas Stephens presented to County Commissioners on April 15. With additional training and certification (Basic, Intermediate and Advanced), deputies would receive an increase in pay.

The cty of Bonners Ferry Police Department offers a five percent increase in pay for additional certification from basic to intermediate, but not intermediate to advanced.

“The county would get cops with more training,” said Stephens. “We would be somewhat competitive in incentives.”

Boundary, Benewah and Shoshone County are the training grounds for Bonner County, Kootenai County and Spokane, said Dan Dinning, Boundary County Commissioner chairman.

The pay for sheriff deputies in Benewah and Shoshone County is real close to what Boundary County pays, said Dinning.

“To keep them from moving, the county has produced a good benefit package for all employees,” said LeAlan Pinkerton, Boundary County commissioner.

Currently, the only way for sheriff deputies to increase their pay is to be promoted. However, there only is a need for a certain number of sergeants and corporals explained Stephens.

“If everybody is a corporal, it lessens the position,” said Stephens.

The current pay grade has been in existence since 1996.

The chief deputy is grade 18, patrol sergeants and detectives are 17, patrol deputy-corporals are 16, patrol deputies are 15, detention sergeants are 14, detention deputies are 13 and civil deputies are 11. Grade 11 begins at $12.16 per hour and increases to $18.11 per hour for grade 18.

“The problem is so few grades,” said Sheriff Greg Sprungl. “Maybe if there were finer grades.”

Law enforcement go through more training than other county employees and there is no place in the grading system to reflect that training, said Pinkerton.

“Looking at the bigger picture,” said Dinning. “How can we make this a better system for everyone?”

Other county employees should have the same opportunities for incentives if they receive additional training in their area, said Dinning.

“I don’t want to compare these positions to other positions in the county,” said Pinkerton. “I support the idea of finding a way of increasing wages at the Sheriff’s Office.”

To move forward, commissioners decided to meet with all elected officials and determine the best way to go forward.

“There is always room for improvement,” said Pinkerton. “(The grade system) just needs to be tweaked.”

Sprungl thanked the commissioners and said, “This is the farthest we have gotten on this in several tries.”